Chapter 9 #4
“You watch me.” Miles proceeded to dial nine-one-one. “Yes. My name is Miles Pritchard and I want to report harassment over at—”
“I’m going! I’m going! But I’m not giving up! You, you, you little slut!” she screamed at Gina.
“Daddy, what’s a slut?” Myla whispered as she tugged on Kyle’s jeans leg.
Loudly enough that Margie could hear, he answered, “It’s what a mean person calls someone when they’re being mean to that person.”
“She’s a bad lady,” Myla whispered to Donna as her grandmother sat there beside her.
“Y’all just go on and have your little party. It’s not the last you’ll be seeing of me.” With that, she stormed away toward a gray car in the parking area.
It was the first time he’d glanced at Gina, and he noticed immediately that her hands were shaking. “Babe, sit down. Dad, can you get her a bottle of water, please?”
“Sure, son.” Kenton headed to the cooler as Kyle took Gina’s hand.
“Sit down and calm down,” he whispered in her ear and kissed her temple.
Gina had started to cry. “I can’t believe she’d show up here and try to ruin this. What does she want from me? It’s not my fault her son was a drunk and beat me!”
“Honey, nothing’s ruined,” Miles told his daughter. “Everything’s fine. Sabrina, do you still have that friend in the court clerk’s office?”
“Yeah. Want me to talk to her?”
Miles nodded. “Please. We’re going to take care of this, honey. It’ll be fine, I promise. We’ll make her leave you alone.”
“Hadley.” Gina jumped up from the table. “I’ve got to find Hadley and Briley.”
“Come on. We’ll help you look,” Constance offered.
“I’ll help too,” Monica told Gina.
Sabrina was already up from the table. “Right there with ya.”
The four women headed toward the tree line, calling to the kids as they went. Kyle turned his gaze to Miles. “Does this happen often?”
“Too often, and I’m getting tired of it. You seem like a real decent young man, and I don’t want that crazy old bat ruining this for the two of you.”
“There’s something you should know, sir,” Kyle said with a slow smile. “It’s not easy to run me off, and I don’t spook easily. If I make a commitment to your daughter, that woman isn’t going to cause me to back out of it. You have my word on that.”
“And if my son tells you that, he means it,” Kenton offered.
“Good. Because she and those two kids need somebody they can count on. Except for us, they’ve never had that. You have my full support. Althea?”
Gina’s mother nodded. “Absolutely.”
“Ours too,” Kenton added with Donna nodding beside him.
Kyle took a deep breath. If it took a cantankerous old woman to unite their families in support of them, he was glad she’d shown up. They might have to fight her, but they wouldn’t be fighting amongst themselves, and he was certain they wouldn’t be fighting alone.
“So how do you think it went?”
Kyle smiled as they cleaned up the last of the picnic stuff. “Based on what was said while you four were looking for the kids, I’d say very well. Both sets of parents pledged their support for us against Margie.”
“That’s good. I know you made a good impression on my parents. Sabrina already thought you were the greatest thing since sliced white bread.”
“My parents were pretty impressed with you too. My mother even said, ‘She seems very smart and kind.’ For my mom, that’s a big deal. She doesn’t make comments like that very often.”
“So what do you think we should do from this point?” Gina asked.
“I think we just move forward.” Kyle wiped his hands on a towel, then pressed his palms to her cheeks. “I’m smitten with you, and I want this to work. I know we’ve got a complication with the crazy ex-mother-in-law, but we can handle that. All we have to do is stick together.”
“I want to stick together with you.” She moved up against him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I want to be stuck to you like glue.”
Kyle chuckled and trapped her lips in a kiss. “I want to be stuck to you like glue too,” he whispered when he broke the kiss.
“Good. But now it’s late Sunday afternoon, and everybody’s got school tomorrow.”
“Yeah. I know you’ve got to get the kids home. But thanks for being here. This was nice.”
“Thank you for doing so much work. By the way, here.” She reached into her pocket, palmed something, and put it in his outstretched palm. “That’s my house key.”
“I’ve got one waiting for you too,” he said with a smile.
“So, officially speaking?” she asked.
“Officially speaking, from where I stand, we’re a couple.”
“Good. That’s how I see us too.” She popped up onto her tiptoes and gave him a soft, sweet kiss. “I love you, Kyle. You’re the best thing that’s happened to me and my kids in a long, long time.”
“I love you, and Myla loves you too. We need to start talking about what blending the two families into one will look like, and living arrangements, and all that stuff.”
“I’d like that.”
“Good. Now you need to get your two home, so I’ll see you tomorrow evening, I hope.” He kissed the tip of her nose, then ruffled her hair. “I was so proud of you today. I can’t wait to see what our future holds.”
“Me too.” That time when she kissed him, he threw his arms around her and deepened the kiss until she couldn’t get away, and he could tell she didn’t want to. “Wow, Mr. Miller, that was some kiss!” she said breathlessly when he turned her loose.
Kyle laughed. “Oh, baby, we’re just getting started!”